The House of Representatives opened the 114th Congress on Jan. 8 by voting 252-172 to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s 30-hour definition of full-time employment and replace it with a 40-hour standard.

Employees are supposed to let employers know when they may need FMLA leave, although they don’t have to specifically mention the law. However, simply calling in to report being “sick” isn’t good enough. Not every illness is covered and run-of-the-mill sickness isn’t a “serious health condition.”

HR Law 101: The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) applies strict rules of conduct to employers during union-organizing campaigns. But whether you choose to accept the union or resist it, you can still exercise your rights effectively. Or, if a union has already won a representation election in your organization, you need to know how to prevent the union from encroaching on your management rights ...

In a series of decisions in the past two months, California appellate courts have tried to clarify the ins and outs of arbitration, giving em­­ployers possible guidance on whether to institute, revise or eliminate arbitration agreements as part of their employment practices.

Austin scored a perfect 100 in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual rankings of American cities with local laws and policies that protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination.

A state appeals court has just reversed part of a jury award based on a new California Supreme Court requirement that employees prove that discrimination was “a substantial motivating factor” for the firing rather than merely a motivating factor. However, no such rule applies to har­­ass­­ment claims.

If you have a large enough HR office, it makes good sense to keep the FMLA request and approval process separate from the disciplinary process. Doing so ensures that someone with expertise in FMLA administration handles the entire process. But there is an additional benefit.